Sister Update & Springtime!

I am determined to get a post done today.

Thanks to you ALL for hanging in there with me.  I'm back for a bit of update on what's going on at the farm and with my seester.  I've had the wonderful blessing of being able to spend some sister-time with her at her home (and her dear hubby hasn't minded at all me being in the way!)  She's moving forward with her chemo treatments - every third week she gets a double dose (two meds) and they REALLY kick butt.  This week (actually 2 weeks ago...) hasn't been too fun with nausea, tiredness, weight loss and inability to find anything that tastes good.  Her hair is gone, too.  That was not a fun thing.  But spirits are high, she's hanging on to the Lord for her strength and we're all doing our best to tempt her with food and drink.  Friends and loved ones come by to encourage and pray and love on her and it helps.

Must share - my son and daughter in law are members at a sweet little church in Colorado. The ladies of the church have a quilt ministry and they sent Sis a beautiful quilt to wrap herself up in.  I can just imagine all the love and prayers that L is covered up with.  She broke into a huge smile and we both even shed a few tears upon opening her package in the mail and seeing that sweet and heartfelt gift!

 

Not only did they send my sister one but they sent ME a quilt, too!  Boy, do we feel loved with the love of the Lord! And cared for and prayed over when we wrap those beautiful handmade quilts around us!  Their quilting ministry is such a great outreach!  Every time I run my hand over the quilt, it's as if I can touch the precious hands that created it! I know my sister has felt the same.  If you're interested,  the church is the Castle Rock Church of Christ just south of Denver.

Back to the future, my Navy nephew has come home from his last tour in the Persian Gulf.  He was busting a gusset to be home with his mom while she was going thru surgery and chemo. Such a comfort to them both!  He brought his beautiful fiance home with him and they are spending time with my sister and her family this week.  I've gotten to spend time with them this week, too!

My sister, L, has been strengthened so much by the Lord and she was able to come this way Monday for a fishing trip to our favorite private lake.  Her son, husband and future DIL came and we spent the day at the lake.  Lisa fished a little but mostly relaxed and visited and watched her kids. 

 

 

 Then, yesterday, we all met up in Ennis, TX, to visit some of the bluebonnet trails.  It was so fun and again it was a good day for my sister.

 

Garden is going well, I guess.  We've had several cold snaps this spring that has caused me to replant my peas twice already. Another cold blast tonight, and I might be doing it again.  "They" say that produce is going to be about a month behind this year.  Well, at least we didn't hit the 90's in the April this year! My spinach hasn't bolted yet!

 Well there you have it, friends.  We're keeping our heads above water here, some days - just barely.  But the Lord is always good, and He provides us with all we need, He daily bears our burdens and His mercies are new every morning!  Praying for blessings upon you all, my friends!  I'll try not to be so long in posting again.  Family comes first - Love you all!

Ketchin' Up...

I'm still here!  Really, I am.  Just been SO busy this past couple of weeks!  Adam came home one week, Hayley came home for spring break the next week, my sister came up a couple of days, trying to get my garden in, work....AND  Finally....

Dum da da Dummmmm!  We're building my chicken coop and pen!!!  Yea!  After 3 years of waiting and waiting for the right time, I guess the time is NOW!

Tony and my dad got the posts set Saturday and later this week after our deluge for the next couple of days, we're going to begin work on the coop.  I'm so excited I could jump up and down!  My whole family thinks I'm completely bonkers but I don't care. I've always wanted chickens and now I finally get my chance! I'd like to find some older pullets that are about ready to lay.  They are just SO hard to find this time of year. Most everyone has chicks - I need instant gratification - I've been waiting all this time!  Hopefully, in a week or two it'll be done - depending on the weather of course.

Tony got my garden all tilled up and I started planting Sunday afternoon.  I got 4 rows of purple hull peas done, BUT the next 2 1/2 days it's going to be storming THEY say, so I didn't plant any more.  If it comes a frog strangler, it'll wash all my seeds away, and I'd sorta like to keep 'em planted.  So, the rest will have to wait til later on this week.  I have two raised beds planted with onions, and haven't decided what to put in the other 5 yet.  But I'll figure it out!

The bluebirds are picking out their nests for the year...

The martins have returned and are deciding about living arrangements, too...

The "Mrs" is undecided and she fluttered around for quite awhile until she decided which floor she wanted for her babies...

The turtle family comes out to sun themselves, but if they see us, they'll scatter into the water silently.

Can you believe how GREEN it is already this year???  We've been having 80's during the day.  The azaleas will be spent soon - hopefully, they won't be gone before the end of the Azalea Trails here!

There is a pair of bald eagles nesting in a tree on the lake that belongs to some friends of my parents.  They are so majestic. We watched them for quite awhile - they're very private and secretive.  My sister was here for a couple of days and she takes photos of birds.  So this is one of her beautiful photos. 

Here's what it looks like around here right now.  I just love it - it's my FAVORITE time of year!  Spring!

I hope your week is fabulous, dahlings!

Keep your dress down!

The Robins are BACK!

Spring is just around the corner here in East Texas! YEA!  Altho I must admit we might get another cold snap before it's all over with.  It was in the 70's here late this afternoon.  So nice, so me and my camera and Gypsy went for a stroll around the farm, well, part of it anyway.  Robins were everywhere- swarming up in the hackberry tree - picking the little tiny berries and chasing each other away from their branch.  They're pretty territorial about food I guess.

Had to go to pay the water bill today and I ran across the photos below on the way - just down the road from us.  The sun didn't come out til about 3:00 this afternoon - it was still a little cloudy...

Below, my plum tree is coming out.  Think I may have already showed you that one last post.

And I USED to have a lovely real wicker settee on the front porch that I loved to go out and sit on.  You see who has taken over that settee, don't you?  No point in trying to keep Gypsy off of it.  She's claimed it and it's hers now.  I think when it gets warm, she'll be laying out in the grass or dirt.  But for now, she perches on the settee and stays there all night keeping a watch on our place.  She is a good watch dog and barks to alert us to human or varmint.  So I guess that's a good trade-off for her using my settee.  Ya think?

Keep yer dress down...

Hints of Spring

The daffodils are out all over town, the tulip trees are blooming (I'll try to get some photos of that soon, too) and I can tell that spring is right around the corner here in East Texas.  Sure didn't feel like spring today tho.

Plum and peach trees budding...

Iris coming out...

Tail-end of my pansies...

Tiger lilies coming up...

We had a quick blast of cold last night.  Rain, 24 degrees Saturday night, 30 degrees last night, and strong winds.  That's about the extent of it for now.  By Wednesday we're supposed to have temps in the 70's again.  I sure hope so - I need to start getting things outside cleaned up around here.  Flower beds need new mulch and weeds pulled.  You know all that little spring green rye and purple flowery thingies?  They are coming up every where.  Tony already mowed once!

Garden is plowed and ready to go!

See what I scored in the dumpster at my office?  YES!  One can always use another birdbath!

Gypsy came a runnin' when I went outside.  She was sopping wet, and of course her being an Aussie mix, she had to "lean" all over me.  My jeans were muddy and wet, but I guess I knew that before I went outside.  She's a sweetie.  She had to roll over for a (wet and muddy) belly rub...

Tomorrow promises to be beautiful and clear - too bad I have to work.  I've gotta get my square foot garden beds constructed - Dad's gonna help me - just a few and then my row crops. I've already got my onion starts.  Dad's already set his out.

Ok, well that's all for today.  Keep yer dress down!

HEY THERE, ARE Y'ALL STILL THERE??? I AM ...

I'm still here!  I'm still alive!  I got over my "crud" finally.  (thank you Vee for checking on me...) I'm just busy-busy with the house, the wedding AND...

Hubby's mom fell AGAIN, and broke the same leg/hip that she broke in April of last year!  Bless her heart, with her memory problems, she forgets or refuses to use her walker and she fell last Thursday in her bathroom at the Alz. care home and now is in the hospital.  They did major surgery to repair her leg/hip and had to replace the pin with another longer pin and screws and cables - Oh, I don't know what all.  I hate it so badly for her!  It's hard to help her understand what's going on and why she's hurting.  I think she'll be in a nursing home for a couple of months while healing and we'll see what to do from there.  They've got her on pain meds right now, so she's groggy, but I'm hoping that she'll be feeling better soon.

And the wedding... well, lots of you know what we're dealing with here.  April 30 is coming up very soon, and as usual, I'm running behind, and still have lots to do for the rehearsal dinner, etc.  It's coming together and it's going to be beautiful. I can't wait!  I could have searched the world over and I couldn't have found a better match for my son - well, of course, you dummy!  God brought them together so I had nothing to do with it!  If you knew our lives you'd know this is a "God" thing!  I love this sweet young lady SO much!

I DID find another gal to help at my office so that's a HUGE relief for me.  I hope she likes it here.  She's really doing well, and I hope to keep her for a long time.  She's young with two little girls (but her mom keeps them for her). Normally, I wouldn't want to hire someone with kids cuz they're always calling in sick, but since they stay with their grandmother, it's a little different.  We'll see what happens!

I'm SO anxious to get out in my garden!  There just hasn't been much time. I was hoping to get out there and get some seed beds in last weekend, but life happens, and family comes first so...  maybe in another week or two.  It's still early to some of you, but I'm chompin' at the bit here.  I usually already have my potatoes in, already have my onions in, and beginning to get peas and beans in the ground.  My fruit trees have already flowered and are leafing out as well as the rose bushes.  The daffodils are fading away, and believe it or not - we've already seen the crane flies and a few mosquitos on the muggy nights. 

We have a huge old oak tree that spreads out over our deck and back yard and the birds have eaten all the little berries off of it and have pooped seeds all over the deck.  Problem is, they stick like glue and I may have to get the power washer out to get all those seeds off.  They're stuck all over the metal chairs, too! Besides, the mistletoe just falls and drops pieces of itself all over the place, too. So messy!  The clovery grasses are coming up everywhere with little purple flowery thingies and the lawnmower is in the shop! Our yards need a haircut already!

I found a little bitty turtle in my hydrangea bed, but went back later and it was dead. I wondered if the crows brought it over there or something. I thoroughly detest the crows.  Do you know they can take the lid off a garbage can and rummage through the trash and make a big ole mess on the ground!!!  I sat and watched 'em do a while back and they disappeared about the time I appeared with my son's pellet gun.  Shoot!

All this to say that SPRING IS WELL ON ITS WAY here at Sand Flat Farm!  And I'm smilin' and so happy about it!  Now if I could just find some time to get out in the garden...

PS - I've read several good blog posts on all the tragedies happening across the Pacific Ocean from us in Japan.  It's so sad.  If you haven't been by her blog, Debbie at Of His Pasture had a great post today about Japan, a wonderful book about a brave Christian woman, and letting God watch over her kids while they are in Japan.  Stop by there and check out this post.  After you do that, jump over to my other Debbie's blog, Wisdom, and read her post about not panicking in these troubled times and that what happened in Japan is just History in the Making.  We are to put our trust and faith in the Lord.  His children do not have to worry about these things.  Both of these posts today helped me put into words what we should be doing and what we should be praying about.  I am so thankful to have met so many Christian women friends in blogland that I can count on to lift me up daily.  These gals are just two of them.  Thank you one and all for your encouragement and your prayers.  I thank God for you all.  Have a great week, my lovelies!

Around the Farm

I'm kinda tired these days with the Mother in Law and work and kids and such, so today I'm just showing you some photos around the farm.  We spent the night out there Monday evening - love it this time of year. I'm working in my vegetable garden and re-doing some flower beds and getting things cleaned up and planted for this year.  I got up a little before 7 Tuesday morning - early morning is my favorite time of the day at the farm.  The birds are singing, the air is still a little crisp, and there's always a breeze blowing at Sand Flat Farm. It was invigorating!

I have a whole bunch of iris.  I picked some up free that somebody was giving away at a garage sale. This one is gold, not yellow, and I have some purple and white, too.

Can you see me in this previous picture?

This flower bed with iris and hydrangeas is one that I moved. The hydrangeas were not well established yet in another location that was just too hot.  I've always heard that hydrangeas do best on the north side of the house. But I thought I knew better, of course, and could magically make them grow where I wanted. Nope, should have listened to the farmers & gardeners. So I made this flower bed with my own two little hands. Dug it all up, worked in some good planting mixture, arranged the edging, collected the rocks, etc.  I'll plant some annuals in the front section of the bed.  Our big oak tree stands over this bed to shade it all day. It gets early morning and late evening sun, so I hope it will thrive here.  Do you like my rock edging? I do, I think it's sort of cottage-y...

I'm adding another flower bed this year - an azalea bed with some big fuschia colored formosa azaleas and also some white mixed in.  They're supposed to do really well in our sandy soil here so I'm looking forward to next spring when they'll make their first showy appearance!  They still have a few unopened blossoms on them now. I waited to buy some until I could see them blooming.  I've bought them before just taking the word of the gardener as to what color they were and they turned out to be a different color. Sometimes even if they're tagged, they'll be MIS-tagged.  You just never know!

My little tin garage in the early morning light. I've already got petunias in the box, the lillies are coming up, the dianthus are beginning to bloom, and all my roses are about ready to POP!  My plumbago didn't make it through the snow this winter so I'm trying to decide what to fill in this bed with....  got any ideas?  I could always do annuals, but I'm really trying to establish some perennials here.

Here's my new morning glory that I've got to find a place for. It's an annual, but it re-seeds, so I need to find a kind of permanent place for it.  It's really a dark blue, and not purple like it looks here.  I also picked up these couple of old iron fence pieces that I will put in my flower gardens somewhere. I was wondering if I should paint them white first and let the white wear off?  Rust is nice, too, tho.

Well, my friends, I hope you are having a wonderful day, a beautiful springtime, and that you're getting your hands dirty like I am.  My husband fusses cuz I love to go barefoot while working in the garden (actually I go barefoot most of the year).  My heels are brown. Yuck.  I hate wearing hot shoes when the turned up dirt is so nice and cool!  And when I'm watering and it's hot, I love to spray my feet.  My feet are my temperature control for my body.  Does that make sense? And at this point in my life with being either constantly hot or having a cold shiver, it's all about comfort, right?  RIGHT!

Mr. Bunny wishes you a Hoppy Day!!!